Lyrical abstraction

Lyrical abstraction names two related currents of postwar abstract painting. The first, Abstraction lyrique, was born in Paris after the 1944 Liberation and named in 1947 by the critic Jean José Marchand and the painter Georges Mathieu. It stood against geometric 'cold abstraction', favoring the improvised mark: rapid gestures, stains (taches), and open color, close to what was called Tachisme. Its figures - Wols, Hans Hartung, Jean Fautrier, Mathieu - competed with the new New York School for the title of modern painting. The second current arose in the United States in the late 1960s, when painters reintroduced painterly freedom against Minimalist dogma; Larry Aldrich named it American Lyrical Abstraction in 1969, and the Whitney Museum gave it institutional form. Two scenes, one temperament: the painting as a free, personal, improvised act.

Defining characteristics

• Spontaneous, improvised mark-making: stains (taches), rapid calligraphic strokes, drips
• Loose painterly handling, from thin washes to thick, worked impasto
• Personal expression prioritized over geometric structure - against 'cold abstraction'
• Open, loosely organized compositions without a central focus
• Matter-rich surfaces, sometimes earthy and somber (Fautrier's Hostages)

Key figures

• Jean Fautrier (1898-1964) — His matter-thick Hostages (Otages) series gave the movement its dark, material pole
• Hans Hartung (1904-1989) — Nervous calligraphic line - rapid, autographic abstraction
• Georges Mathieu (1921-2012) — Named Abstraction lyrique in 1947 and championed speed and live performance
• Wols (1913-1951) — Tiny, raw improvisations - tachisme at its most intense

Example works

• Otages (Hostages) — Jean Fautrier (c. 1943)
• Hommage au Maréchal de Turenne — Georges Mathieu (1952)
• La Bataille de Bouvines — Georges Mathieu (1954)

Sources

• Lyrical abstraction - Wikipedia encyclopedia
• Jean Fautrier - Wikipedia encyclopedia
• Georges Mathieu - Wikipedia encyclopedia

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